Tennis Team Falls to No. 13 Ole Miss in SEC Tourney

BY ANDRES FOCIL

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. –Arkansas got off to a good start against No. 13 Ole Miss in the second round of the Southeastern Conference Tennis Tournament on Friday, but the Rebels stormed back for a 4-0 victory.

The loss drops the No. 22 Razorbacks to 17-10 and expecting a bid to the NCAA Tournament, which begins May 12.

Arkansas led early in all three doubles matches, but Ole Miss won the point with eighth-ranked Erling Tveit and Eric Claesson topping Rohan Gajjar and Matt Roberts at No. 1, 9-7, and Bram ten Berge and Juan Pablo Di Cesare downing 59th-ranked Adrians Zguns and Blake Strode at No. 2, 8-5.

At No. 1 singles, Zguns, who is ranked No. 19 but has been battling a groin injury, dropped a 6-0, 6-1 decision to Tveit, who is ranked No. 22.

Strode fell to Di Cesare at No. 4, 6-1, 6-3, and the Rebels clinched the match at No. 6 where Michael Jung lost to Jakob Klaeson, 6-3, 6-3.

In the other matches, Rohan Gajjar was leading ten Berge, 7-6, 4-1, at No. 3, Roberts won his first set against Claesson 6-2 and was down 5-3 in the second at No. 2, and Colin Mascall was trailing at No. 5, 6-4, 4-4.

Zguns, a first-team All-SEC selection, is now 24-10. Strode, a second-team All-SEC pick, is 26-6 and Jung 23-8.

Roberts, who is ranked No. 72 and is also an All-SEC pick, is 27-9. Gajjar is 21-8 and Mascall 12-11.

Zguns is third on UA’s all-time victories list with 102. Roberts’ season win total ties for the 11th-best single-season mark in school history while Strode’s victory total ties for 14th.

Arkansas advanced to the second round with Thursday’s 4-3 win over Vanderbilt. With the match tied 3-3, Strode clinched the win at No. 4 with a 7-6, 7-6 (5) victory over Nathan Sachs.